Health

11:55 am

Tue December 23, 2014

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate a new virus which has been linked to the death of a Kansas resident during the summer of 2014. KMUW's Aileen LeBlanc reports...

The new virus is called Bourbon Virus after the Kansas resident's home county. The host of the virus is unknown but believed to be a tick, as the illness bears similar symptoms to known tick viruses. Symptoms include fever and fatigue.

Health

1:02 pm

Tue December 16, 2014

Two new programs in Topeka will provide court and dental services to people with mental illness.

An alternative sentencing court run through the Topeka Municipal Court will allow mentally ill people who committed relatively minor crimes to be released from a jail earlier than scheduled if they comply with a treatment plan.

The program also will offer employment, housing and substance abuse help. Christine Wills with Valeo Behavioral Health Care says the alternative sentencing court will hear its first docket in early January.

There are at least fifteen community health clinics in Sedgwick County that serve people in need. They are known as “safety net clinics.”

One of them, the Guadalupe Clinic, will mark its 30th anniversary next year. For the past decade, Guadalupe has been working with students from the KU School of Medicine-Wichita to increase the level of care offered… and provide these future doctors with very practical experience.

Health

4:10 pm

Wed December 10, 2014

New health rankings show Kansas stuck at 27--the same slot that it occupied last year. But KPR’s Bryan Thompson reports there was a time--not that long ago--when the state ranked much higher than the middle of the pack.

The United Health Foundation rankings are a snapshot of 30 health measures ranging from clinical care to behavior and environment to state policy.

“Kansas has had a steady decline, from about ten or eleven in that initial 1990 rank to rank 27th in this most recent year’s report,” says Dr. Rhonda Randall, the foundations chief health advisor.

Health

1:20 pm

Fri December 5, 2014

Premiums in the federal health insurance Marketplace are slightly higher, on average, than last year-but not in Kansas. More from Bryan Thompson.

A new report from the Department of Health and Human Services says the cost of the so-called “benchmark” silver plan is up an average of two percent nationwide. But In Kansas, the benchmark plan is actually five per cent lower this year.

Health

1:50 pm

Thu December 4, 2014

More than 2,000 employees will become eligible for full-time health benefits starting Jan. 1st.

Director Mike Michael of the Kansas State Employee Health Plan says the expansion is the result of the federal Affordable Care Act, which requires large employers to provide the benefits to employees who work at least 30 hours a week.

The state health plan previously required people to work at least 36 hours a week to be eligible for full-time benefits.

Health

3:08 pm

Wed December 3, 2014

A Kansas board is considering whether to continue barring a physician from practicing medicine after scrutinizing her referrals of young patients for late-term abortions and finding that she kept inadequate records.

Health

12:52 pm

Tue November 25, 2014

More than 6,000 babies are delivered annually at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, 1,000 of them require special care. And for a certain at-risk population in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit even more care is needed. KMUW’s Abigail Wilson reports…